


you attack my heart

by girlsonthetv



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Language of Flowers, Post-Timeskip, Verdant Wind route, the quickest way to a lesbian's heart is with a jacket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 00:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20921036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsonthetv/pseuds/girlsonthetv
Summary: Leonie is injured, badly, and in the process her jacket gets ruined. Bernadetta decides to make her a new one, and it turns out to be the best decision she's ever made.





	you attack my heart

**Author's Note:**

> it's a shame i didn't finish this in time for rarepair week but oh well. i hope you enjoy.

Leonie would be alright, thank the Goddess; the wound was far less mortal than its grisly appearance would suggest. However, her jacket was ruined. She had just received it, too; the jacket of a Bow Knight, and she was so proud of it, had stood in front of the mirror and admired herself in it for hours after the exam. Bernadetta had done her fair share of admiring, too. 

“Can’t be helped.” Leonie sighed in her cot after Manuela had done all she could for the wound. She would need days of bed rest before she would be fighting-fit again. 

“It sucks, though.” Bernadetta said in a small voice, tentatively putting her hand over Leonie’s. It isn’t enough, it will never be enough, but maybe it will be enough for now. That axe should have hit Bernadetta, and she knew it. 

Perhaps Leonie could see it in her face, because she chuckled and said, “Bernadetta, don’t look like that. It’s not your fault. Injuries happen.” 

“But if I hadn’t ducked -“ Bernadetta burst out. 

“If you hadn’t ducked, then you would likely have taken that axe to the face, maybe ruined your eye.” Leonie retorted. “I’d rather get injured than have you hurt, anyway.”

“...Why?” Bernadetta wasn’t as wracked with guilt anymore; now she was just confused. 

“You’re more fragile than me, so it’s better if I take the hits.” Leonie turned away from Bernadetta, but she swore she saw her blushing. “That’s all I meant.” 

“Oh.” Bernadetta looked at her lap. “I’m still sorry.”

“And it’s still okay.” Leonie turned back to her and smiled. "It's a shame about that jacket, though." 

It was just then that Bernadetta got an idea. "Where did it go? They took it off to treat you, but then where did they put it?"

Leonie sighed. "I don't know, I saw Cyril take it. Probably going to - huh?"

For just then Bernadetta went tearing out of the room, tossing well wishes behind her. She needed to get that jacket back. 

/

It didn't take much convincing for Cyril to give her the ruins of Leonie's Bow Knight jacket; he was more confused as to why she would want it in the first place, since it was basically in shreds. Little did he know, she was a pretty good seamstress. Come to think of it, the only people who knew that were the professor and Leonie. 

Now was the trickier part of her plan; Cyril wasn't terribly intimidating, being younger and smaller than her. Ignatz was one of her peers, but he was an artist, wasn't he? He knew about beautiful things. Bernadetta knew about pitcher plants and cobra plants, but she didn't want to stitch something like that onto the jacket. Leonie deserved something prettier. 

She got Ignatz's attention the only way she knew how; standing a little ways behind him until he became aware of her presence behind him and turned. "Can I help you?" 

"Y-yes," Bernadetta squeaked, and slammed a fist against her thigh. Just one question, and then she could return to the safety of her room and get started. "You know about flowers?" 

Ignatz raised one eyebrow. "Yes...?" She had caught him in the middle of watering the roses. Bernadetta briefly considered sewing a rose on the jacket and almost immediately discarded the idea. She didn't want Leonie to think she was in love with her... right... ?

She shook her head briefly to disperse these thoughts. "N-no, that's not what I meant. Do you know about... about the meanings of flowers? I want... I want to stitch one onto a jacket for my friend," that's all she was, her friend, "and I wanted to pick something meaningful."

"Meanings of flowers..." Ignatz set the watering can down and adjusted his glasses; Bernadetta immediately felt guilty about delaying the completion of his task. Just as she was about to say it's fine, really, he could go back to what he was doing and she could leave, sprinkled with her usual pleas for him to please not be mad at her, he said, "Tiger lilies usually symbolize pride and wealth. They would look quite striking. You might also consider nasturtium flowers, for victory in battle, or narcissus, for confidence. I think we have all of those in the greenhouse, for you to use as a reference. If we don't, I know the library has books." 

"The library is really dim and dark and has a lot of hiding places for bad things." Bernadetta mumbled under her breath. "That's why I like the greenhouse - it's wide open and bright. D-do you think... ?" She trailed off and started again. "I-if it isn't too much trouble, could you show me where they are? In the greenhouse?" 

"Sure! I spend a lot of time looking at the flowers myself." Ignatz downright beamed, and Bernadetta felt her anxiety melt away. Maybe this whole "developing confidence" thing Leonie had piqued her interest in wasn't a total waste of time. 

As luck would have it, the monastery greenhouse did in fact have tiger lilies, narcissus, and nasturtium flowers for Bernadetta to sketch for later reference in her room. "You have a really good eye for detail." Ignatz remarked as she filled in the last of the details on the narcissus' trumpet, which prompted her to shut her sketchbook with a resounding slap. "I'm sorry," Ignatz said, immediately averting his eyes. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." 

"No, y-you didn't make me uncomfortable." In fact, it had felt good to be complimented, in a way that made her immediately stamp out the happiness like it was a quickly-growing fire. Women were not meant to be artists, a nasally voice in the back of her head reminded her. "You just... startled me. But, thank you... for helping me find these flowers, and for liking my drawings." 

"You're very welcome." Ignatz said, looking like he understood. 

/

"Bernadetta!" 

A loud rapping on her door startled Bernadetta out of her handicraft-induced fugue state, and she hurriedly spat out a mouthful of pins. "I'm not here!" she said before kicking herself for revealing her presence. 

An exasperated sigh that made Bernadetta wince even though it was still on the other side of the door. "Bernadetta, I know you are! Have you eaten today at all?" It was Leonie's voice, and Bernadetta immediately felt bad for worrying her. 

"I ate this morning!" Then she had locked herself in her room and set to work on Leonie's jacket, letting herself settle into the familiar rhythm of stitch after stitch after stitch. The hours had melted away, and when Bernadetta looked up at the clock she was shocked at how much time had passed. 

"That was hours ago! Have you eaten since then?" Leonie's shouts had little bite despite their bark; Bernadetta could hear the worry beneath the volume. That was perhaps the only thing that stopped her from crying.

"No!" Bernadetta yelled guiltily over her growling stomach. "I promise I will! Don't come in!" Bernadetta nearly shrieked as she saw the doorknob turn. "I'm coming!" She flung her sewing as gently as she could to the side and scrambled to meet Leonie at the door. She opened the door the tiniest sliver to see Leonie, not disapproving as she had thought, but concerned. 

"Bernadetta, is everything okay?" 

"Everything's fine, Leonie, it's just - I was naked." Bernadetta improvised. 

"Wh - you were?" Leonie flushed bright red and adjusted her gaze to just above Bernadetta's head. 

"I'm clothed now, though. That's why I didn't want you to come in." Bernadetta was so pleased with herself for cooking that up that she hardly registered the way Leonie cleared her throat. 

"That's - that's fine. I'm sorry for just opening the door without asking. Or, trying to." The blush had begun to fade from Leonie's cheeks, but she still looked like she'd had a few glasses of wine. "Since you haven't eaten... do you want to head to the dining hall together? I'm done training for today, and I was going to go eat. Or, I can bring you food." 

"No, let's go!" Bernadetta scooted out the door, opening it as little as possible. If Leonie brought her food, then she would probably definitely see her jacket, and since Leonie had invited her, she was pretty sure it wouldn't be a nuisance she ate at the dining hall. It was by all accounts the perfect scenario. Leonie offered Bernadetta her arm like a perfect gentleman, and now Bernadetta found herself blushing. 

"You're really nice, Leonie." Bernadetta took the proffered arm and snuggled into Leonie's shoulder. 

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm only being decent." Leonie looked at Bernadetta with a pensive expression. "You grew a lot." 

"Huh?" 

"When we were in school, you were a lot shorter than me. Now, we're almost the same height." Leonie ruffled Bernadetta's hair, and her brain briefly shut off. When she came back to reality, they were outside the dining hall. They picked a nice quiet corner to eat, and Leonie told Bernadetta all about her training plans, and it was nicer than Bernadetta had ever thought the dining hall could be. 

"I used to hate the dining hall." Bernadetta said around the time everyone was starting to get up and go back to their rooms, curfew nipping at their heels. "But you make it bearable, Leonie." 

Leonie giggled sweetly. "Aw, I'm glad. Do you want me to walk you back to your room? It's getting dark." 

It wasn't, not really - the sun was still visible over the horizon, tinting the sky a rich orange that reminded Bernadetta of Leonie's hair. Regardless, she was happy for the excuse to cling to Leonie's arm a little longer. 

/

Weeks passed, and Bernadetta continued to spend most of her days in her room; but rather than hiding from the outside world, she was working on Leonie's jacket until her hands ached. She had never embroidered on leather before, and more than once she felt like crying and giving up. Whenever she felt that way, all she had to do was remember how Leonie looked lying listless in her cot when she was recovering, and she began her work anew with new focus. She had to repay Leonie for saving her.

Leonie had given her new hope for how her life could go - the least she could do was make this jacket so beautiful she cried upon receiving it. Though, maybe not quite that beautiful. She knew as sure as night came after day that she'd start crying too if Leonie started crying. Regardless. She didn't want to give the jacket over until it was as perfect as she could make it. 

When Leonie could pry her away from her work, which was fairly often, she would always try to pick her for details about what she was working on - she loved listening to Bernadetta talk about sewing, for reasons she didn't really understand. Bernadetta tried to be as evasive as possible, but she wasn't a very good liar, and Leonie had figured out very quickly that it was clothes, and a gift for someone. So Bernadetta tried to work faster, hoping she would be able to finish it before her and her big mouth ended up giving it all away. 

As fate would have it, she finished the jacket the day before Leonie's birthday. The other Golden Deer had been talking about going out to celebrate, and Leonie had said that Bernadetta didn't have to come if she didn't want to. She didn't, make no mistake, but she could just show up at the beginning, wish her a happy birthday, give her the jacket, and then retreat to her room for a quiet evening of reading and enjoying a slice of leftover birthday cake. There was no rule against that, that she knew of. 

If there was a rule against that - well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it. 

She arrived at the restaurant everyone was taking Leonie to an hour early, just to be on the safe side, and ended up ordering some food. It was good food, and she only stuttered a little bit while ordering, and all in all she was feeling pretty good about what she had set out to do until Leonie came in and every thought in her head disappeared. 

Claude had one arm slung around Leonie, but upon seeing Bernadetta he immediately snatched his arm back and began whispering instructions to the other Deer behind him. Leonie reddened, and they had a brief but intense whispered argument that culminated in Leonie entering by herself and heading up to where she saw Bernadetta seated, box in her lap. "I thought you weren't coming." 

"I wanted to give you your birthday present." Bernadetta shoved the box into Leonie's arms. "After that, I was going to go back home - you guys clearly don't want me here, I'd just get in the way - "

"Bernadetta, that's not what's happening." Leonie chuckled. "Claude wanted to give us a minute alone, for some reason. You're welcome to stay, if you want to." 

Bernadetta kicked her legs happily. "Are you going to open your present?" 

"Oh, yeah, sure." Leonie didn't tear the paper off haphazardly and leave it in a pile - she carefully pried up the parts that were stuck together, and folded the paper up neatly. She was so focused on this task that at first she didn't notice what was underneath it. When she did, she gasped, her eyes shining. "Is this what you were working on?" 

Tiger lilies, for pride and wealth; bright, bold crimson in the center. Nasturtium, for victory in battle; small and pink, like freckles, across the bottom. Narcissus, for confidence; tucked alongside the tiger lilies, its golden trumpet pointed up towards the heavens. Bernadetta explained all this hurriedly as tears streamed down her face; Leonie wasn't even crying, but she looked so happy that Bernadetta just couldn't help it. "I wanted to thank you not just for saving my life, but for being such a nice part of it, the reason I care about having it saved to start with. You're so confident, and you help me be confident, too - so I want you to always be proud and prosperous and victorious. You deserve all of that, and so much more. So... that's why the flowers." 

Leonie sniffled. "This is... this is the nicest thing anybody's ever given me." Leonie whispered, her voice thick with tears. She slipped the jacket on, even though it was the full throat of summer and too hot for anything of the sort. "Thank you." She threw her strong archer's arms about Bernadetta and hugged her tight but gentle, too, and Bernadetta closed her eyes and wondered what she had done to deserve this, deserve her. 

"Maybe... maybe after I get back, we can do something together." Leonie murmured, brushing a strand of hair out of Bernadetta's face. "Just the two of us." 

"I'd like that." Bernadetta whispered back. Leonie leaned forward slowly, and when Bernadetta closed her eyes she kissed the tears off of her cheeks. "You can kiss my lips, too." 

Leonie laughed brightly and did just that. It was Bernadetta's first kiss, and it was so much more wonderful than she ever would have thought. Distantly, she heard a loud gasp, and they broke away. "I'll leave you to your party." Bernadetta said, standing up. 

Leonie stood up as she began to walk away. "Let me walk you home." 

"B-but aren't you going to celebrate?" Bernadetta looked bewilderingly at the other Deer, headed by Claude, who looked like a cat with the cream. 

"We'll be fine, Leonie, go walk your lady home." Claude patted her on the back good-naturedly, getting a swat for his trouble. 

They walked the little ways home in the humid summer night, and Leonie tried her best to keep the jacket on the whole way, but took it off about halfway through after Bernadetta began begging her to. She didn't want her very first girlfriend to die of heat stroke. Leonie conceded, laughing. 

"I'll keep it safe for you until you get back." Bernadetta said in the doorway of her room. 

"Alright." Leonie said reluctantly, rubbing her thumbs over the flowers even as she gave it to Bernadetta. "See you later." She took Bernadetta's hand and kissed it just before she left, the most knightly mercenary she'd ever known. As Leonie turned and waved goodbye, Bernadetta thought about how lucky it was that Leonie's first jacket had gotten ruined. 

Years later, when the war ended and the Blade Breaker II became widely known across the continent, her embroidered clothing would become just as much her trademark as her skill with a bow. When asked who had done it, Leonie would get a faraway look in her eye as she spoke of her wife, Lady Varley.


End file.
